a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Bits from Randy Rigby Interview, 9/11

So COACH Corbin’s gonna have to start playing the kids pretty quick…
We made that pretty major trade, and we picked up three ex-, now, Golden State players, with Richard Jefferson, who by the way, have been coming into our open gym, and looks very, in very good shape.

I have not seen Richard Jefferson in the shape that he’s in right now for a long time, and I’ve been very impressed with that.

[Andris] Biedrins has come in as well, and he’s working out very hard. So I’m really excited to see some of these new faces that we’re gonna have with the team.

The Jazz embrace things when they’re free
Let me just share one thing that I’m excited, that we’re actually, we’re gonna be seeing installed. There’s a new program that has been kind of tested, and now a number of us teams now are embracing.* It’s called SportsVU. We’re literally gonna be putting in six cameras on, that’s gonna be above the court, at EnergySolutions Arena. That is going to be used to actually measure, analytically, the hustle and effort that is being put in by every NBA player.

And particularly, we’re going to be looking at our players, and we’ll measure that and use that analytics, not only how are they running, and what do they’re doing, each and every quarter…I mean, people are now g–be able to say, “You know what? Are we getting our money’s worth from a player?”

And you know what? They’re gonna be called on the carpet and you know, for the, what they’re putting in, we’re expecting that that performance.

* According to this Zach Lowe article, 15 of the NBA’s 30 teams chose to pay the $100,000 price tag to have SportsVU cameras installed in their arenas last season or earlier. The Jazz were one of the other 15 teams “waiting in hopes the NBA would foot the bill.” Last month, the league and an outside tech consultant reached an agreement to install the cameras in the rest of the league’s arenas before the start of the 2013-2014 season.

On the Jazz’s new open gym
It’s going extremely well…we’ve had a lot of players in there. Per NBA rules, they can only kinda come in there for 48-hour-periods of time, and work out. But we’re extremely happy with what’s happening there.

This was one of the brainchilds coming from Dennis Lindsey, and a great idea. Dave Fredman has done a really good job. Literally, we’re shuttling in, everyday, 16 NBA players or potential players, between D-League players, international players, who are also working out with a lot of our players.

It’s gone extremely well, and been well-organized, and we’ve been very happy with what’s been happening.

Will there be any bias for or against young players on this team this year?
I, it would, based on kind of our strategy, I would think that there would be a strategic advantage of being young, and Ty[rone Corbin] has, I’ll tell you, really embraced it.

I think Ty did, by the way, a remarkable job balancing people’s careers, there, also, our strategy and his goal, that he is given. And our coaches’ goal has always given to win games. And he did, I think, a very good job last year of balancing that, and helping us compete.

This year, as well, we want to, that role has not changed. It is to win games, but he is going to have a lot more, in the directive of, with what we’re doing, of using those young players and really helping see the development of those players.

When you say the number one priority is winning, do you mean nightly, or in the playoffs, or next season’s playoffs, or…?
I think that we will see a natural up-route. [If] you look at the NBA history, of teams who have built championship-caliber teams, there is a progress that takes place.

And I think we’re committed, and I think the community is committed in seeing this, and I think they’re willing to be patient in seeing the growth and the development, as long as we’re seeing energy, commitment from these players, that they’re, they are showing their desire to grow and develop.

And so I think it’s going to be a work in progress, and we might go two steps forward, we might go one step back. But the commitment is there, to see this team grow and develop.

What do you get asked most frequently by Jazz fans?
Well, I think the number one question they want to know is, why did we make the change, of going in this strategy.

You know, there was a lot of people who liked Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap.* And you know, are we really, are we really committed to g–this strategy.

And I tell ‘em emphatically, loud and clear, yes we are, and it is coming from not only ownership, but front office, our coaching staff. We are all really committed to seeing this young team develop and grow, and build a platform and a foundation for an NBA championship-caliber team.

* As if Al and Paul were the ones that decided what style of basketball the Jazz played last year…

Unintentional Dirty Quote Machine** Gordon Monson: Randy, do you have any more prizes you can pull out of your pocket, or somewhere, that we could give somebody something?** Randy Rigby: I thought I’d better bring something tonight to make it a little more exciting…I reached out to our friends at Burt Brothers and Wendel Burt says, “Hey, we want to give something to this as well.” And so, and by the way, we should mention that their grand opening is coming up on the 26th, out on Bangerter and Redwood Road.* (1280)*I can’t believe the intersection of Bangerter and Redwood Road exists outside of adult films…